Skillfully drawn and expertly shaded, the figure
shares the page with a brief outline of a window casement and a sketch
of a woman
wearing a feathered hat and a snood (hairnet). Seated in what may be
a captain's chair, the young man engages the viewer directly. His boots,
jacket, and high-buttoned shirt suggest a livery costume. It is possible
that the youth (likely a freedman) was employed to assist with
military horses, coaches, or wagons. Although drawn with great care,
as if intended to serve as a preparatory sketch for a studio painting,
no larger work incoporating this figure has been identified. Eastman
Johnson was one of America's most acomplished genre painters. His willingness
to produce images that touched on the most hotly debated issue of the
day--the abolition of slavery--thrust Johnson to the forefront of those
willing to address African American subjects on the eve of the Civil
War.